As a member of the Wesleyan community, I was upset by the repeated incidents of racist graffiti that appeared throughout last year. Whenever such graffiti appeared, the school made sure to let us know that, as a student body, we must not make each other feel alienated or threatened, and that we should be aware of rare but potentially dangerous sentiments that unfortunately exist in our community.
On Thursday last week, many students took initiative in raising awareness of the Jena 6 incident, a recent series of events reminding us that racism is very much a current problem in our nation. People wore shirts, posted flyers, and started dialogues to raise awareness and fight racism. Most visibly, there were thought-provoking statements about the incident chalked all along the path from Davenport to Usdan…which few people read because the University saw fit to erase them.
Is the need for a clean walk greater than that of awareness? Why must the school announce hateful speech written in our elevators, but silently erase public speech against hate? We can speak for or against violence or hate. Let us.
To quote Pete Seeger:
I’ve got a hammer
And I’ve got a bell
And I’ve got a song to sing
All over this land
It’s the hammer of justice
It’s the bell of freedom
It’s the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land.
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